Redefinition and Weekly Run Down

This past week I have been focusing on posture every day. I have done core work, upper body work, and stretching every day. I have also tried to focus while at my desk, while on my runs, even when I lay down for bed on my posture. I have been a chronic sloucher for 27 years (yes I slouched even as a kid, ask my cousins) and let me tell you this task is going to take awhile. I have been relatively successful this week, but the few occasions I was exhausted (Thursday after my tempo run, Tuesday during my last mile repeat) I fall back into my old ways and realize this is not going to be easy.

The hope is that if I can focus on this for a few months that it will become natural. I am realizing more and more all these little things I will need to change to improve my running, beyond running more miles and doing more speed work. My form will never be perfect, but perhaps if I can exaggerate the opposite of all the little things I do wrong I will at least improve.

Add to this the fact that I need to improve my mental running tactics and I have a lot to think about on my runs these days. It's a bit overwhelming but I am confident it will all pay off.

This week ended just over 62 miles.

Monday- 5.8 miles easy with Janet 8:40 pace
Tuesday- Track 8.4 miles
Wednesday- 7.9 miles easy with Janet 8:36 pace
Thursday- 9 miles with tempo. average 7:40 pace
Friday- 7.75 miles with Jim Klar 8:04 pace
Saturday- ~8.8 miles trails. We got lost and the weather got crazy so I settled for 90 minutes rather than 10 miles. It was probably around 8.8 miles, maybe 9.5 max. Lots of hills
Sunday- 15 mile loop 7:57 pace, felt good

Key Workouts:

Tuesday Track:

Dreaded one mile repeats.

Aiming for sub 6 first mile, 6:05 second mile, sub 6 third mile

mile warm up 7:24.92
3*1600 (rest/400 m)
5:47.40 (3:57.62)
6:08.91 (5:08.74)
5:58.68

Credit definitely goes to Frank on that first mile pace, as soon as I lost him the back stretch into the wind was just killing me. I was trying to focus on my posture throughout the workout, don't know if it made a difference or not.


Thursday Tempo:

7 miles tempo aiming for under 49 minutes. Finished in 48:42. Struggled a bit and upped the effort whenever it felt like I was dragging, I definitely felt the effort the last three miles, but got it done. These workouts always sound so much easier on paper than they are to execute.

Saturday Trail Run:

Went and watched the muddy paws trail race. Afterwards I headed out with some trail pals to get in 10 miles. About halfway through the run the skies opened up and the trails quickly turned into rivers. It was absolutely nuts, but fun despite getting drenched to the bone. After getting turned around we settled for ending the run at 90 minutes after cresting sound of music hills to lightning we had had enough!

Sunday Long Run:

Again started off easy this week behind the group and once again I felt much better. Ran most of the run with AS and kept a pretty even conversational pace. 15 mile loop has some rollers so I was glad to keep it consistent towards the end. Feeling much less run down post Sunday run this week. Hopefully that is a good sign.


Post Trail Run Saturday. Seriously Drenched

7 comments:

solarsquirrel said...

Awesome training! Don't worry too much about your posture - you'll get there, and when you do - you might even get FASTER!!!

I'm hoping to rejoin you guys on the track next week! We'll see how this week goes ramping back up.

duchossois said...

Another well-planned and well-executed week of training. Great track work on Tuesday, really. Also, I am curious, do you do anything specific about your nutrition after hard workouts?

E-Speed said...

Frank,

Nothing specific except try to eat something right away.

For some reason that has been harder this summer for me, my appetite is a bit wonky and my stomach has been queasy after some of my more intense efforts. Tuesday nights I make sure to get in a good meal and a beer :) Thursdays if I run at lunch I make sure to get in some calories after and hydrate. That evening I will treat myself to ice cream if I am super hungry.

I definitely should look into it a bit more. Perhaps try to have some smoothie type drink available that I can stomach even if my stomach is off or my appetite is low.

I always try to eat something after every run, even if I can just stomach a can of fruit.

Black Knight said...

Focusing on posture every day must be the task of every runner. I have to do it. Thank you.

Fifty K said...

As a sloucher since I was a kid, I can totally understand what you are talking about.

It was nice to finally get a chance to meet you today at the Snowville Aid Station for the Buckeye Trail Race, after reading your blog for so long.

Keep up the great work, you are very inspiring.

Brett S. said...

Have you ever thought about replacing the desk chair with an excersize ball? I was at a company in CA a while back where most everyone was sitting on balls instead of chairs. Anyway it may look funny but if you spend 6 hours a day at an office it can really help with the core strength

E-Speed said...

Brett I actually do have a ball. I was sitting on it exclusively for awhile, not sure why I drifted away from it but plan to get back to it. The ball is a hair too big for me, so I need to find a smaller one.